Coffee making machine



March 26, 1940- J. M. F. OYEN ET AL 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet l 1 INYEIY'T'OPS @en BY'IhaPATToRm 64w, 6 WW. I

March 26, 1940. J, M F, OEN A 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4,1938 1o Sheets-Sheet 2 March 26, 1940. M, F, OYEN AL 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING momma Filed April 4, 1958 10 Sheets-Sheet s [mzzvrmes M .Q Qew Gav/a4.

BY T ne A'r'voRnzY March 26, 1940- J. M. F. OYEN ET AL COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet 4 \4: C u 7 a \Y Q 9 y I v x l |||L w m w w I A 6 DH 11% 1 L BY TucuaA'r'roRNw 644a Z March 26, 1940. M F, Q'YEN ET AL 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING momma Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet 5 BYWBRA'P'mRNEY aa 5 March 26, 1940. OYEN ET AL 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING mourns Filed April 4. 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet e wzqa m. 64L) m.

BY THEm ATTORNEY March 26, 1940. v J. M. F. OYEN El AL COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet 7 7 lnvz'm'mes:

B? THE"? A'I'TOPNEY March 26, 1940. M QYEN r AL 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 193B 10 Sheets-Sheet 8 35 E614 MT B THE"? ATTORNEY March 26, 1940.

J. M. F. OYEN ET AL COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet 9 Mam MM VIIIIIIIIIANMV\ 4. I

March 26, 1940. J M. QYEN 5 A 2,194,807

COFFEE MAKING MACHINE Filed April 4, 1938 10 Sheets-Sheet 10 INVENTOP3 m r 4 109 v 2: cu. Mam- 9 Patented Mar. 26, 1940 UNITED STATES COFFEE MAKING MACHINE John M. F. Oycn and John A. Svendsgaard, Oakland, Calif.

Application April 4, 1938, Serial No. 199,835

7 Claims.

The present invention relates to coffee making machines, and more particularly to a machine which will operate'automatically to maintain a constant supply of hot water, to measure quantitles of hot water and cofiee at timed intervals, and to cause the hot water to percolate through the coffee until a predetermined level of coffee is reached in a coffee storage tank.

One object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the type described comprising means for supporting measured quantities of coffee in superposed spaced relation while hot water percolates through said quantities of coffee and intermittently to add fresh coffee and to advance said quantities of coffee downwardly so that the lowermost of said quantities through which the water has percolated the most may be discharged.

A further object is to provide supporting screens for said quantities of coffee and to provide for the automatic reversal of position of said screens so that they will be self-cleaning during the coffee making operation.

A further object, is to maintain a supply of dry cofiee in a container where it is subjected to agitation and free from moisture.

A still further object is to provide in such a machine means for varying the amount of dry coffee which is automatically delivered to the mixing chamber where the water percolates through the coffee.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent in the following specification wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings in which a preferred form of the invention is illustrated.

In the drawings Fig. l is a front elevation of a machine embodying the present invention shownwith the front removed to expose parts of the apparatus contained therein;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken substantially on line l1-II of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan viewof the machine illustrated in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3a is a detail view partially in section of a control switch illustrated in Fig. 3;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View illustrating details of a water-measuring compartment and means for operating the same;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating details of construction of operating mechanism for the coffee intercepting and supporting plates;

Fig. 6 is an elevation in detail of an electric switch and operating means therefor to insure discontinuance of operation of the machine at a predetermined cyclic period;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged view in front elevation illustrating details of construction of the dry coffee-measuring compartment;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view taken on line.

VIII-VIII of Fig. 7;

Fig. 8a is a fragmentary plan view of a portion of the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 8;

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on line IXIX of Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a side elevation of the coffee measuring compartment illustrated in Fig. 7 with parts broken away to disclose the interior thereof;

Fig. 11 is a detailed view of an agitator shaft which passes through the measuring compartment illustrated in Figs. 7 and 10;

Fig. 12 is wiring diagram illustrating the switch circuit to the motor which operates the automatic mechanism of the machine;

Fig. 13 is a central vertical section taken through the gear transmission which times the operation of the coffee percolating mechanism;

Fig. 14 is a section taken on line XIVXIV of Fig. 13;

Fig. 151s an enlarged front elevation of the coffee percolating chamber;

Fig. 16 is a similar view of the chamber illustrated in Fig.

Fig. 17 is a fragmentary view illustrating in rear elevation part of the operating mechanism of the coffee percolating chamber shown in Figs. 15 and 16;

Fig. 18 is a sectional view taken on line XVIII-XVlII of Fig. 16;

Fig. 19 is a transverse sectional view of the in tercepting plate shown in Fig. 18; v

Fig. 20 is a sectional view taken on line XX-XX of Fig. 16;

Fig. 21 is a transverse section of the screen illustrated in Fig. 20;

Fig. 22 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating the details of construction of a supporting track for a carriage which operates to discharge used coffee;

Fig. 23 is a detailed view of the said carriage in place on said track;

Fig.24 is a perspective view in detail of a removable part of the track illustrated in Fig. 22;

Fig. 25 is a perspective view 'of the carriage shown in Fig. 23; and

Fig. 26 is a perspective view illustrating details of construction of a screen carried by and forming the bottom of the carriage illustrated in Fig. 25.

Referring in detail to the accompanying drawings wherein like parts are designated by like ref-= erence numerals in the several views, the inven tion is illustrated as comprising a water boiler I (see Figs. 1 and 2), from one corner of which a riser 2 extends vertically to support and com- I municate with a header 3. A coffee hopper 4 for containing fresh ground coffee is supported directly over a coffee measuringand dispensing compartment which consists principally of the separable halves 5 and 3 bound together as shown. An elongated vertically extending coffee percolating chamber is disposed below the dispensing compartment 5 and 6, and consists principally of the casing formed of the parts 1 and 8.

A gear transmission contained in a housing 9 transmits power from a motor indicated at I0 (see Fig. 3) to operate the coffee percolating mechanism, as will hereinafter be described in detail, and a dumping carriage I I for discharging used coffee grounds is normally disposed beneath the coffee percolating chamber and operates between track frames I2 and I3. A coffee reservoir I4 to receive the liquid coffee that has been percolated is disposed on top of the boiler I and has a portion of its bottom depending into said boiler so that the coffee therein will be retained at a high temperature suitable for serving. A receptacle I5 is provided for discharged coffee rounds.

Hot water is delivered to the upper end of the coffee percolating chamber through a pair of perforated spouts I8 (see Figs. 2 and 4) which communicate with a water measuring chamber I'I disposed within the header 3. A valve I9 operates intermittently through mechanism hereinafter to be described to permit the water in the measuring chamber I! to flow through the spouts I8. A stem 20 which supports and operates the valve I9 extends upwardly through a tube 2I with sufficient clearance to permit air to pass through said tube so that when water is drained from the measuring compartment I! by opening the valve, water from the interior of the header 3 may enter freely through small ports 2la in the top of the measuring chamber and refill the same preparatory to the next opening of the valve I9. The tube 2I serves as a vent, having two functions, one being to permit air to enter the chamber I'I' while water is flowing out through the valve I9, and the other being to permit air to escape from chamber I! while water enters through the ports 2Ia.

The mechanism for opening the valve I9 intermittently and in timed relation to the operation of the machine is illustrated in Fig. 4: of the drawings. The cam 32 (see also Fig 13) engages a friction roller on the end of an arm II6 fixed to a shaft II'I journaled in a supporting bracket I2I. Upon rotation of the cam 32, the raised portion of its periphery rocks the arm IIS and shaft I I I and imparts rocking movement to an arm II8 secured to the opposite end of the shaft Ill. The arm H3 is connected by a link H9 to one end of a lever I20 pivoted on a fulcrum I22. The opposite end of the lever I20 is connected with the upper end of the stem 20 of the valve I9. Therefore, as the cam 32 is driven by the main shaft 40, the valve I9 is opened in timed relation to the operation of the machine to cause the water in the chamber I! to flow through the coffee percolator chamber at properly timed intervals.

A gas burner 22 is positioned below the boiler I and a thermostat 23 within the boiler operates a conventional thermostat valve 23a (see Figs. 1 and 2) to control the flow of gas to said burner through a supply pipe 28 and thus maintain a constant desired temperature of the water within the boiler. A coffee faucet 24, illustrated in Fig. 1, communicates with the coffee reservoir I4 for withdrawing coffee as desired, and a similar faucet 25 communicates with the interior of the boiler I so that hot water may be drawn off as needed. The-water in the boiler is kept at a constant level by means of a ball cock 23 connected with a source of fresh water'by a pipe 21, and controlled by a float ball I28 disposed within the header 3 and supported on a rod I29 which forms an operating lever for the cook 26. As inlet pipe 26a preferably extends downwardly from the cockso that the cold water is admitted near the lower part of the boiler.

As illustrated in Fig. 13, the motor I0 is connected with the transmission 9 through a flexible coupling comprising the loosely connected coupling members 29 and 30 to rotate shaft 40 to which is secured cams 3|, 32 and 33 exteriorly of the transmission housing 9. Within the housing 9 an intermittent gear 34 is fixed to the shaft 40 and is positioned to mesh intermittently with gear 35 (see also Fig. 14) supported on a counter shaft 39. For each revolution of the intermittent gear 34, the gear 35 is rotated one-quarter turn, and a gear 36 which is keyed to the gear 35 in simultaneously rotated and imparts rotary movement to a gear 31 keyed to gear 38, the latter two gears being freely rotatable on the shaft 40. The gear 38 is connected through a gear train including gears I5, 14, 45 and 18 (see Fig. l) with the intermeshing gears 42, 43 and 44 on the coffee percolator housing, the gear ratio of this chain being such that for each intermittent movement of the gear 38 the gears 42, 43 and 44 will be rotated through 180 for a purpose presently to be set forth in detail.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 7, the gear 45 is shown as driving intermeshing gears I0, II, I2 and 13 on the front of the coffee measuring chamber 5, and said gears are fixed on the outer ends of shafts 80, 8|, 82 and 83, respectively, which shafts extend through the chamber and carry agitating pins 83a as shown in Fig. 11, the purpose of which pins is to stir or agitate the coffee in the hopper to prevent the same from clogging and cause it to flow freely into a coffee measuring tube.

The coffee measuring tube, which is disposed at the bottom of the chamber 5, is ilustrated at 83 in Fig. 8 and is rotatably mounted in a cylindrical passage extending through the bottom of said chamber. The tube 89 has a side wall cut away for registry with an opening in the upper side of this cylindrical passage to receive coffee from the chamber 5 and for registry with a similar opening in the lower part of this passage to discharge the coffee so received when the tube is rotated through 180. The said gear 45 seals one end of the tube 89 and the other end of the tube is closed by a plug 99, a collar I30 surrounding the exterior of the tube to prevent longitudinal movement thereof. An adjusting screw I00 which extends concentrically through the tube 89 is journaled at one end in the plug 99 and passes centrally through the gear 45 at its other end.

An extended hub on the outer face of the gear 45 carries an angular support 93 for idler gears 14 and 16 as illustrated in Fig. 1 and also carries a tube 94 provided with a suitable slot through which a nut 98 threaded to the adjusting screw I00 extends to carry a pointer 98a cooperating with graduations inscribed on the exterior of the tube 94. A plug 95 in the end of the tube forms a journal for the extended end of the adjusting screw I00 which is fitted with a knurled head 96. Cylindrical nuts SI and 92 are threaded by rightand left-hand threads to the adjusting screw I00 so that upon rotation of the knurled head 96, the adjusting screw will cause the nuts to be advanced toward or away from each other, thus to vary the capacity of the measuring tube, and the pointer 98a. will serve to indicate the space between the nuts 9| and 92, and thus the capacity of the tube. The nuts 9| and 92 are provided with longitudinal slots which fit over a feather key 90 secured to the interior of the tube 89 and extending longitudinally thereof so that the nuts will rotate with the tube but will be held against rotation upon being adjusted through the medium of the adjusting screw I00.

It is sometimes desirable to discontinue the fee of fresh coffee and to permit clear hot water to run through the cofiee percolating chamber for the purpose of cleansing the same, and this is accomplished through mechanism illustrated in Figs. 9 and 10 wherein a pair of swinging gates 86 and 81 are shown as supported on shafts 84 and 85 to which are fixed gears 11' and 18. Gear I9, meshing wiith the gear I8, is fixed to shaft 88 having a knurled head 91 at its end. Thus, upon manipulation of the head 91, the shafts 84 and 85 may be rotated to swing the gates 88 and 81 from their open position illustrated in full lines in Fig. 9 to their closed position illustrated in dotted lines in the same figure, in which latter position they prevent coffee from entering the measuring tube 89.

The interior of the coifee percolating chamber, as illustrated in Fig. 5 and Figs. 15 to 21, inclusive, is provided with superposed interceptor plates 50, 5|, 52 and 53 journaled for oscillating movement from] a horizontal position as illustrated in full lines in Fig. 5 to a vertical position as illustrated in dotted lines. Also within the percolating chamber and intercepted with the said interceptor plates are screens 54, 55 and 55. When the machine is in operation, the interceptor plates 50, 5|, 52 and 53 are normally disposed in their vertical position and the screens 54, 55 and 55 are horizontally disposed, and each of said screen's supports a measured quantity of coffee through which hot water delivered through the tubes I8 is permitted to'percolate. operated by the gears 42, 43 and 44, respectively, (see Figs. 1 and 15) and upon the intermittent rotation of said gears through 180 as described above, said screens are inverted to spill the coffee supported on them to the interceptor plates disposed below them, which interceptor plates have at this moment been moved to their horizontal position. When the interceptor plates are again moved to their vertical positions, the coffee caught by each of these plates from the screen above it will again be spilled and deposited upon the screen directly beneath it. Simultaneously with the movement of the gears =42, 43 and d4, which movement inverts the screens, the gear 45 will make a complete revolution and cause the measuring tube 89 driven by it to deposit a measured quantity of fresh coffee on the uppermost interceptor plate so that when the interceptor plates are moved to their vertical positions, a new supply of coffee will be delivered to the uppermost screen 54.

The mechanism for oscillating the interceptor plates 50, 5|, 52 and 53 is illustrated in Figs. 5, 16 and 1'7, wherein journals of these plates are shown as fitted with crank arms 51, 58, 59 and 60, respectively, these arms being pivotally connected to a rod 62, which is vertically reciprocated by a lever 63 fixed to a shaft 64. This lever is urged upwardly by a spring 65. The cam 3| (see Figs. 3, 5 and 13) which is driven by the The screens 54, 55 and 56 carry and are motor I8, engages a roller a on the end of a As the measured quantities of coffee supported on the screens 54, 55 and 58 are advanced downwardly through the operation of the screens and interceptor plates above defined, the lower of these three screens discharges its coffee on to a screen II 5, which screen forms the bottom of the dumping carriage II illustrated in Figs. 1, 23 and 25. The carriage II is mounted for movement from the full line position to the dotted line position illustrated in Fig. 1 by means of rollers I08 guided in slots IIO provided in the plates I2 and I3 (see Fig. 22) which plates are held in spaced relation by means of spacing bars I III as shown. The means -for moving the carriage I I from its full line position to its dotted line position is shown in Figs. 1 and 15, wherein the gear 44 is illustrated as meshing with a gear 48 which carries a crank arm 49 having a crank pin engaging the slot in a lever 41 which depends from a pivotal support 41a so that it may be oscillated on said support through the medium of the crank arm 49 each time the gear 44 operates. The ratio of the gears 44 and 46 is two to one; consequently, each 180 movement of the gear 44 which serves to invert the screen 56 will impart a. complete rotation to the gear 46, thereby causing the lever 4'1 to swing from its dotted line position of Fig. 1 to its full line position and back again to its dotted line position.

The lower end of the lever 41 engages the car-- riage II through a slot in the lower end of the lever and a pin I09 projecting from the carriage so that the carriage is caused to reciprocate from end to end of the tracks IIO by this periodic oscillation of the lever 41. I

The screen I I5 which forms the bottom of the carriage I I is pivotally connected to the carriage by hinge bearings I02 (see Fig. 26) which pivotally and slidably fit pintles I03 on the carriage as shown in Fig. 25. Rollers III supported on cams I I I (1. extending downwardly from the edge of the screen I I5 operate in angular slots lb formed in the plates I2 and I3. Thus, when the carriage is in its left-hand position as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2, the screen II5 will be held upwardly or closed by reason of the fact that the rollers III are in the higher portion of the slots IIIb. When the carriage moves to the right, the downward direction of the slots IIIb causes the screen II5 to be swung to a vertical discharge position, and coffee supported thereon is dumped into the receptacle I5. Return movement of the carriage causes the screen bottom thereof again to close, and in order to insure a tight closure, fingers II2 (see Fig. 23) which are urged upwardly by a spring II 3, engage the cams Illa.

A gate II4, shown in Fig. 24, is provided to be attached to the side of the plate I2 by bolts having winged nuts I05, I06 and I01. These bolts project through slots I050, N611 and I0'Ia, respectively, in the gate II4 so that the gate is slidably supported on the plate I2, in a. position to close the lower end of the slot ID in said plate or to open it when desired, Upon sliding of this gate to open the slot IIIb, the screen H5 may be removed from the bottom of the carriage II for cleaning, and'a clean screen may beput in its place.

As the coflee is percolating through the percolating chamber I--8, and as a fresh charge of coffee is being supplied at timed intervals to the uppermost screen 54 and the partially used cofiee being advanced downwardly from screen to screen in the manner hereinbefore described, the

carriage II carries-the last or oldest charge of coiIee to the right and deposits it in the receptacle I5. Thisbperation of the carriage II is timed to take place after the coffee has been transferred from the screens to the underlying interceptor plates 50, 5|, 52 and 53, and the car- 'riage has returned to its position below the coffee percolator Just before the interceptor plates are moved to their vertical positions to discharge onto the screens overlying them.

Referring to Fig. 12, the motor I0 is illustrated as operated from a circuit including the wires Ifla. In this circuit is included a manually opby the level of coffee in receptacle I4 in the following manner; A float I23 (see Fig. 1) in said receptacle is carried by a tubular rod I which telescopes over the lower end of a rod I26. When the coflee in the receptacle I4 reaches the desired level, the upper end of the tube I25 strikes a collar I21 adjustably secured to the rod I26, and raises this rod until it engages and rocks a mercury switch I24 (see Figs. 3 and 3a) thus opening the switch I24 and breaking the circuit to the motor I0 unless the switch 51 is in its closed position. The switch 61 is in the form of a mercury tube, as illustrated in Fig. 6, supported in a rocker 68 pivoted to a bracket 59 adjacent the transmission housing 9. The switch is normally in its closed position as illustrated in Fig. 6, but when the machine is in operation the disk 33 (see also Fig. 13) carries a pawl 33a which engages the rocker 68 and moves the switch to its open position to break the circuit to the motor once upon each revolution of the shaft 40. The disk 33 is provided with spaced perforations so that the pawl 33a may be secured to project from its periphery at any desired point. The position of the pawl 33:: will preferably be such that it will effect opening of the switch 61 at the point of the cycle of operation when the discharge carriage II is in its discharge position as shown in full lines in Fig. 1. Consequently, assuming that the manually actuated switch I is closed and the automatically controlled switch I24 is closed so that the machine is in operation, the operation will continue until the level of coffee inthe receptacle I4 efiects opening of the switch I24. The motor will still be energized by the timing switch 61 in the shunt circuit until the machine comes to a proper position for rest, at which time the switch 61 will open, completely breaking the circuit to the motor and the machine will remain at rest until the level of the coffee in the receptacle I4 recedes to a point where the switch I24 will again be closed.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent is- 1. In a coffee machine, a plurality of alternately superposed coflee supporting screens and intercepting plates, means for turning the screens and plates in timed relation to cause cofiee supported by them to be advanced downwardly step by step, and means for supplying water to percolate through the coffee supported by the screens.

2. In a coffee making machine, a plurality of alternately superposed coffee supporting screens and intercepting plates, and means for intermittently inverting the screens to discharge coffee supported by them and position them for reception of coffee on their opposite sides.

3. In a coffee making machine, a plurality of alternately superposed coil'ee supporting screens and intercepting plates, means for intermittently inverting the screens to discharge coflee supported by them and position them for reception of coffee on their opposite sides, and means operating alternately with the operation of the screens to move the intercepting plates to and from a cofiee supporting position.

4. In a cofiee making machine, a plurality of alternately superposed coffee supporting screens and intercepting plates, means for intermittently inverting the screens to discharge coffee supported by them and position them for reception of coifee on their opposite sides, means supporting the intercepting plates inhorizontal positions to receive the coffee discharged by the screens, and means for moving the plates to vertical positionsafter the screens are inverted.

5. In a coffee making machine a vertically disposed percolating chamber, alternately arranged pivotally supported coifee screens and intercepting plates in said chamber, means for feeding measured charges of fresh dry coffee to the topmost screen, means for imparting pivotal movement to the screens and plates to eflect transfer of said charges from screen to screen downwardly through the percolating chamber, and means for supplying hot water to the top of said chamber to percolate through the coii'ee supported on said screens,

6. In a coffee making machine, a vertically disposed percolating chamber, alternately arranged pivotally supported coffee screens and intercepting plates in said chamber, means for feeding measured charges of fresh dry coiIee to the topmost screen, means for imparting pivotal movement to the screens and plates to effect transfer of said charges from screen to screen downwardly through the percolating chamber, means for supplying hot water to the top of said chamber to percolate through the coii'ee supported on said screens, a screen disposed beneath said chamber to finally receive said charges of cofiee, and means for removing the last-named screen from beneath the chamber and discharg-- ing the coffee therefrom.

'7. In a coiIee making machine comprising a vertically disposed coifee making chamber with superposed reversible coffee supporting screens,

means for delivering coffee in measured charges to said screens, means for supplying water to percolate through the coffee supported by the screens, and means for discontinuing the coifee supply during reversing of the screens and passage of water thereover to eflect cleaning of the screens.

JOHN M. F. OYEN.

JOHN A. SVENDSGAARD. 

